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tv   The War Room  Current  March 21, 2013 3:00pm-4:00pm PDT

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>>i'm trying to get her into training, a physical trainer. >>no, i'm not doing that. >>because i think that would be awesome to work out, get that adrenaline going and she don't want to try it. but, i know she'd be good at it. >>mom, i smoke and i do drugs and i don't exercise. >>you gotta start somewhere. (vo)after relapsing rebecca was kicked out of yet another treatment program. rebecca's mom, nancy, allowed her daughter to move back home on one condition- that she stay clean and submit to random drug tests. >>what is your plan? >>nothing. i don't know. i can't really make promises 'cause i'm not gonna keep promises, but like, obviously i don't want too end up back on the streets. i don't want to want to be homeless. i don't want to be a loser but like, i can't promise that's gonna not happen.
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(vo)a few weeks later rebecca left home and didn't return. when we last spoke to her she was in a motel room with her boyfriend, using once again. >>you know, like you're not doing good. and you know that you're gonna eventually die. there's no such thing as an old heroin addict. they're all young 'cause they all end up dying eventually i guess.
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>> michael: coming up tonight, the president's trip to the middle east was supposed to be a friendly photo-op. of course, that was before he started speaking. i'm michael shure, and this is "the war room." >> if dealing with republicans in washington wasn't difficult enough, president obama took steps to revive the middle east peace effort. it was built on a photo-op worth a thousand words but it's
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president obama's words who has the world's attention. he started with meetings with mahmoud abbas. he urged both israelis and palestinians to think outside the box on how to start talks. it was his first trip outside of the white house since four years ago. he addressed young israelis in jerusalem. even there american politics wasn't far away. >> obama: you know politically given the strong support in america, the easiest thing for me to do is to put this issue aside. express unconditional support for whatever israel decides to do. that would be the easiest political path. but i want you to know that i speak to you as a friend who is
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deeply concerned and committed to your future. >> michael: and sometimes only friends can deliver the hard truth. >> you have the opportunity to be the generation that permanently secures the zionist ring, or you can face the growing challenge to its future. given the demographics west of the jordan river, the only way for israel to endure and thrive as a jewish and democratic state is through the realization of an independent and viable palestine. that is true. [applause] >> obama: just give the frustration in the international community about this conflict israel needs to reverse an under tow of isolation. >> michael: what today's speech an meetings can do for the peace process and israeli relations we turn to our own king david
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shuster in new york. david, did today's speech do anything to quiet any of president obama's critics on the left or even on the right? >> i think it will quiet the critics on the right particularly because the president changed u.s. policy when it came to israeli settlement. professionally the u.s. said there can be no peace talks until israel stopped building settlements on the occupied territoried. today the president lectured the israelis saying it's counterproductive and does not help the peace process but he said the talks continue any way. did he not tell the israelis that you must stop building the settlements like he has in the past. >> michael: the speech did not have a lot of expectation. did they lower the bar because they knew no big speech was going to happen on this trip? i was skeptical of why he was even going. >> a couple of things.
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clearly, there is a political need here in the united states. the polls show that the the president is wobbly among jewish voters, but if he can be seen showing the united states' strength and standing with the best ally in the region, that might help at home. the president frankly gave the israelis what they wanted yesterday when he said look there, is no way the usa is united states is going to allow iran to develop a weapon. the israelis got what they wanted out of that, that was a clearcut commitment from the president that he was not going to allow the iranians to build this. and the american audience sees something because they see him standing strong with israel and closing that gap with netanyahu both verbally and physically. >> michael: it looked like they were putting on a show for
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ahmadinejad. did anything move the peace in palestine forward? >> the president because he's taking a more difficult position for the palestinians saying look, these are my words, but the president is essentially communicating to them, i'm no longer going to tell the israelis they must stop building the settlements for peace talks to continue. it puts enormous pressure on the palestinian side who held it up saying, this is why the peace talks aren't happening. it's the israelis fault. the president said no both sides have to work around thisser resume the talks regardless of what the israelis are doing and it takes it away from the palestinians before when they would drag their feet in those talks. >> michael: david shuster, thanks so much. >> you're welcome michaelment back in washington, the government promising to run
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until september. it makes it sound like everything is hunky dori in the capitol, but it's far from that. it may have cost us our soul when it comes to gun safety. the first permanent federal laws passed since newtown. gun safety advocates lost on every single one of them this bill is outrageous in light of the mass murder in newtown connecticut. the bill forces gun dealers to check for missing or stolen guns and bans efforts to change the definition of antique gun. and the bill keeps the justice department from closing inactive gun dealers giving life to zombie gun shops. and the nra must love this last one, the new law presents atf from using data collection to daughterdraw conclusion to gun crime.
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in essence see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil. these gun measures could have come off the books at some point but they're president obama's signature away from becoming permanent. if i sound dispirited, this is on the heels of the democratic led decision not to push the assault gun ban. biden spent much of the speech defending the assault weapons ban of 1994 which has now expired. >> for all those who say we shouldn't and can't ban assault weapons, for all those who say that politics is too hard, how can they say that? when you take a look at those 20 beautiful babies, and what happened to them. >> michael: as much as congress falters, those memories from to you san totucson today row are to
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aurora, and newtown. >> what congress has to decide whether it's popular or whether think know in their hearts that it's the right thing to do. we grew up learning this lesson. we're on this earth together. we have to protect each other and we have to protect our fellow citizens and our families. >> michael: coming up on "the war room"," a lesson in backbone. mayor jim subtle from a red town in a red state. so someone will have to explain to me why he has the guts to support real gun reform and congress doesn't. plus the latest polls are out for an election four years away for candidates who have not even announced their running and naturally we're eating it up with a spoon. later, questions and thought provoking answers. topics that change our perception of the
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african-american male. this is the war room. we'll be right back. (vo) the answer in a moment. brought to you by expedia. expedia helps 30 million travellers a month find what they are looking for one traveller at a time. (vo) brought to you by expedia. expedia helps 30 million travellers a month find what
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deaths of americans today. while national lawmakers appear to be backing down on banning assault weapons one local application is sticking to his guns. omaha mayor jim subtle is making a ban on assault weapons and high capacity magazines the central issue of his re-election campaign. >> it's been 96 days since new town. 293 days since aurora. 1923 days since the mass shooting at the mall. washington still has not ban assault wednesday. i'm tired of assault weapons. i'll ban assault weapons in omaha and limit high capacity magazines. >> michael: to reflect the each day that has passed since shootings in newtown aurora and home had a department store. but will it help win supporters
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and win re-election or galvanize the opposition. joining me now is jim sat suttle. welcome inside "the war room." >> thank you for having us. and thank you for the interest in omaha nebraska. >> michael: it's not just the interest in you're fine city of omaha but what you're doing there. you're a member of mayors against illegal guns. what is your reaction to biden and bloomberg's press conference just today. >> i joined that effort quickly in 2009, and i'm strong in my convictions here. particularly with what has changed in the omaha--let's say marketplace with our citizens. and i saw this change starting to take place in this red stayed back in the september, october time frame and thus we begin to learn more from our polling of the citizens that they're moving quite heavily in the direction
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of doing something on this issue of assault weapons and high capacity magazines. thus i took the stand very proudly. >> michael: and we can see how proud you are of it. it's reflected in your ads and the way you talk about it with such comfort. are you bothersed that other politicians don't have the courage to stand up for gun safety now? >> i look at this simply. if we're all going to support the second amendment which i do, we have a responsibility, a responsibility to make sure that our children are safe in schools, that our family members are safe when they go to malls or to place of work or to their shopping or even if they're walking to the park near their house. >> michael: now, mayor, was there a defining moment when you decided to make gun control a central issue in your re-election bid? and were there people who were saying, i don't know that i would do that. >> we debated the pros and cons,
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but it came in loudly and clearly when we started to see the electorate moving very strongly and very quickly into enough is enough, it's time to get something done. so i look at this as responsibility. i look at it as common sense. but i also look at it as leadership. it's time for some leadership on this issue to break our way through all this rhetoric we've had for 30 years. >> michael: i'm fascinated by it when you say we debated the pros and cons. i think we all imagine people who are not privy to those conversations, what they must be like. tell me about the cons, and tell me why the cons are clearly winning in some conversations that some senators are having with their own staff in washington. >> well, i think there is a fear, the nra and other groups like that are very strong and very powerful and very vocal. there is an "in your face" mentality here that's been going on. i will tell you, and in the
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weeks we started airing this ad that i have not had that. i think i've had a total of three people get strong with words with me. but nothing was in the yelling category. it was in most cases i've had strong support. in some cases i've had people say to me, mayor i don't agree with what you're doing but i understand what you're doing and it's very bold of you to do this. so the dialogue is set in my humble opinion where we're hopeful that we can have a meaningful discussion about two things. one, where is the dividing line between civilian weapons and military weapons? we as a society have to figure that out. because civilian weapons are for hunting. they're for sport. they're for personal defense whereas military weapons are there for one reason. that's killing. we also need to get on top of
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this number one factor that is contributing to the gun violence and to the mass shootings particularly as we look at theaters campuses, or schools. that is mental health. we as a country kick the mental health issue to the streets in the 1980s. isn't it time we bring that back in and start to do something in a professional way and in a strong society way to address those that are having some difficulties? >> michael: yes, great points, all. just a hypothetical for you. i'm harry reid. i pick up the phone and say mayor suttle, i'm the majority leader of the united states senate. i have democrats who are afraid to vote for gun safety, how do i convince them to? >> i look at it this way and someone made a quote a long, long time ago when i was much younger in the 70s, they said
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this and i don't remember who. quote, the election is over. we're here at senators. we're no longer republicans and democrats. we're united states senators and its time to get about the people's business. so where is the people's business folks? you were elected to do that. buckle down and do your job. >> michael: omaha mayor jim suttle, i wish there were many more voices like yours in washington. we appreciate you being here on "the war room." up next, maybe it's because of his father. maybe it's because of ted cruz but rand paul just seems he should be from texas. weeks laterwell wayne slater from the dallas morning news is and we'll see him after the break. i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us.
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>> michael: welcome back to the war room. the republicans are still licking their wounds from the beating they took in november and already the battle in the white house in 2016 is looming over them. i have to admit it's hard to get your confidence back when earn around you is whisper about the bad news and that bad news is hillary clinton. 1,000 registered voters in florida found hillary crushing opponents in that pivotal state. in head oh-to-head matchups voters picked clinton 52% over 41%. it's a bit early for popping the champagne but this cannot be good news for republicans who must cling to florida if they have any hope of winning in 2016. joining me now in austin, texas wayne slater, senior political writer in the dallas news and a
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favorite in "the war room." >> great to be with you again. >> michael: wayne, i'm not one to count my chickens so far in advance but this makes the hill look pretty steep for republicans in florida. what is your take on this very early early poll. >> not only is florida important. it's going to be important across the board any way. but the idea that hillary clinton would beat the two prominent republicans at this point in that state is astan initialing. florida has been moving away from republicans the last couple of elections. it's a crucial state the winner has to win. this just tells you that hillary clinton is strong. we've seen that for months. there was a recent abc poll where hillary clinton is not only way ahead among voters across the country but also her key is not only the strong democratic base, but also women. even republican women 36%
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republican women nationally in the recent poll say they like hillary. that's a steep hill, you're right. >> michael: the poll i was referring to found that clinton had a 62% favorability waiting compared to bush at 50% and rubio at 41%. what is in clinton's secret sauce that these guys don't have? >> i think again it isn't just that florida voters don't like jeb bush or marco rubio. many republicans and many moderates like them. the key to hillary clinton is not only that she's so well-known not only is she coming off a successful run as secretary of state has the credentials but she puts together this odd constituencies. it's democrats that sure as heck like her but also women in great numbers across the board and as i said earlier the republican women. i think the secret in the sauce
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is that hillary clinton at any state, florida in this case, in any state is going to--the republican women are going to look at her vote for her in 30% to 40% and i think she's nearly unstoppable if she chooses to run for the white house. >> michael: that's really an amazing thing, to think that 30% to 40% of republican women would vote for hillary clinton. if you think back to the mid 90s, not a chance that would have happened. but if republicans have any hope of making up ground in florida a savvy immigration platform will be key. maybe that's why yesterday at a heritage foundation event a room full of conservatives that almost universally praised rand paul's speech on immigration reform. wayne, how much alcohol was involved there? were these guys secretly suiting underneath their smiles and their applause? >> some were. the birthers of the zenophobes who are not happy about the
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immigration reform and all part of the self-deportation movement. the extraordinary thing about this immigration issue is how much the country has moved, how much republicans have moved since the bitter defeat in november. so that's obviously part of the political equation. the key about rand paul is that many republicans moderate and conservative republicans, have come around to the view that immigration reform is necessary. it isn't that they don't want immigration reform. it's that they're suspicious of any candidate, john mccain and others who advocated by saying they wanted to secure the border but not really meaning they want to secure the border in the minds of these republicans. these guys trust rand paul and so in affect effect rand paul is a guy they trust. when he says immigration reform, some say i'm not sure i like that idea, but i trust rand and i'm with him. >> michael: i hear what you're saying. i heard you say that the republicans have come pretty far
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on this issue since the election. i don't know that i agree with you. immigration reform was said at cpac last week and then booed. that is the base of the republican party. how are they going to get beyond that? how are they going to band together behind a candidate if immigration is the divisive issue this time around. >> i just don't think it's the divisive issue. i think why is there is going to be a comprehensive immigration bill. i think if it passes congress, then the issue is effectively behindbehind the next candidate. whether it's jeb bush, chris christie marco rubio rand paul that's not going to be a significant decisive issue politically because these folks who are are on the zenophobe side have already lost. pure political numbers tell me that it may not ultimately be the issue that's going to divide folks. other things are in 2014--2016.
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>> michael: we're not alone talking about rand paul. do you see him as a legitimate contender in 2016? >> no. >> michael: neither do i. >> i went to all kind of events with his dad and he always pulled his 20% of enthusiastic libertarian-minded young and often intelligent voters as well as the crabs and cranks that are part of the campaign. but rand paul will pull his 20% or whatever. he's going to be a force. he's going to be a voice but in the end i don't see the republican party nominating a libertarian like rand paul in 2016. >> michael: let's shift to another state which could prove problematic in. you wrote about republican chairman tom hawken who wants to take on rick santorum in 2014. does this mean that perry is no
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longer the right guy? >> we learned that he's not the right guy for american according to republican voters. a lot of things are happening to rick perry in this state. a lot of good things have happened in texas in terms of the economy and so voters tend to give perry some credit for that even though there are probably other reasons for the state's economic i approval. not only is tom palken challenging him the failure to fix education, to deal with transportation and state issues in texas but also a coalition of bipartisan coalition of the legislature are not happy with his tenure. the blue may be off the road and rick perry in texas. >> michael: how could it be on at all. a little more on texas. on the showed we haddier my bird founder of battleground texas. let's take a listen of this clip
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clip. >> people think of text as a red state, a beat red state but that's only the people who are turning out to vote. right now we're getting less than 50% of the population that is participating in elections. what we have to do is expand the electorate, bring more people in the process through registration and have better turnout. texas is not as red as it is seen today. >> michael: you hail right at ground zero from the progressive movement there. what are dems trying to do and are they going to be able to penetrate this seemingly impenetrable cass. >> well, jeremy is exactly right in everything that he had to say, but these are the fundamentals like talking about football, blocking and tackling, getting voters e expanding the electorate. democrats have been trying to do that for a decade without success in texas for a whole group of reasons. but the shifting demographics, and jeremy is right about this.
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shifting demographics in texas and this organization and others are efforts to expand the voter pool of democratic pool of voters i think does make texas the kind of state that can very well turn purple and blue. whether that is going to happen, frankly, and i've looked at the statistics in the next couple of years, i think it's doubtful. i think he's a little optimistic. but when you look at hillary clinton who is so powerfully popular in south texas among others places, as well as among women and moderate republicans and independent voters in a major metropolitan areas dallas houston, san antonio. then you have the potential as early as 2016 of texas turning blue. my guess is based on a lot of the reporting it's going to take a bit longer, but texas will turn blue, and it likely will happen by 2022.
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you're not going to see just one or two but many statewide candidates winning at the stayed wide level in texas for the first time in 20 years. >> michael: that's encouraging and surprising, and where do the republicans go if they lose texas. wayne slater, thank you for being on the show today. >> michael: up next, i'm not gay, so i'm not going to marry one. that's the argument against gay marriage. while we weren't expecting that level of intellectual firepower, we'll try to find the courage to respond. that's next in the story you'll only find right here in "the war room." satirical point of view. if you believe in state's rights but still believe in the drug war you must be high. >> only on current tv.
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>> michael: the american academy of pediatrics the country's most
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influential pediatrician group has endorsed gay marriage. it declares lack of opportunity for same gender couples to marry adds to family stress which affects the health and welfare of all household members because marriage strengthens families and in so doing benefits children's development. children should not be deprived of the opportunity for their parents to be married. almost 2 million american children are raised by gay parents today. many in states that don't allow gay marriage at all. child rearing among gay couples is more common in southern states. that's surprising. gay couples in arkansas, louisiana, mississippi and texas, are more likely to be raising children than those on the west coast or in new england. these families suffer emotionally and economically as a result of the same-sex marriage band. couples lose out on the benefits
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of taxes insurance and health insurance. there are arguments in two cases that could change all of that, and believe it or not hundreds of major corporations are telling the justices to make gay marriage legal. we all know how the justices feel about corporations. joining me now in the san francisco war room is jim lazarus, the southbound of the public policy, a business organization which has been ahead of the curve when it comes to supporting guy marriage. welcome. >> thank you for having me. >> michael: it's our pleasure. this is a very important story that i'm glad we're covering. 200 counties have signed legal briefs to turn over prop 8 and the defense i have marriage act which both ban gay marriage. your organization was among them. why is this issue so important in the corporate world? >> diversity of your workforce. especially in san francisco but you're seeing it in california
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and all around the country. when you have 10% to 20% of your workforce that is identified as gay or lesbian, it's a big part of your ability to attract and retain. we brought this at the request of the local community to our chamber really in the early california lawsuit six years ago and the chamber weighed in unanimously to join the briefs because the business community small and large felt they had to reflect the community they were living in. they had to reflect the diversity of their workforce. it was a civil rights issue and also a business efficiency issue. we were dealing with domestic partnerships in other ways of trying to provide benefits and it was a complicated issue especially for companies with operations in multiple states. the feeling was let's do the right thing here, right for business, right for the human relations department, right for hiring right for retention
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right for civil rights. >> michael: your group, the chamber has supported gay marriage and gavin newsome battled to support it in francisco. was it a challenge to get people to agree to that? >> initially you might have thought like i did that maybe this was an issue that the community would not weigh in on. it was a non-direct business issue. we took it to public policy process with dozens of members who helped to form our public policy position to our board of directors over 06 members. unanimously directed the chamber to weigh in in the litigation of 2007, and we continue to do that on the most recent litigation. and it wasn't that difficult. i think you had to get over the issues about how does this affect business? what is the relationship we represent 1500 or more local businesses. >> michael: right. >> we represent, you know, wide cross section of the business community.
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are we prepared to speak out on behalf of that community? and our board decided unanimously to do that. >> michael: you know, i can see how some people would say this is just some crazy wacko liberal san francisco thing, but it's not. businesses that are pushing marriage equality include goldman sachs the head of goldman sachs made this commercial last year for the human rights campaign and lgbt advocacy group. let's take a listen. >> i'm lloyd blankfein chairman and ceo of goldman sachs and i support marriage equality. american corporations learned long ago that equality is just goodbyes and it's the right thing to do. >> michael: so when you see that jim does it surprise you that so many corporations are supporting the civil rights issue that are so still politically controversial? >> i think it goes to their workforces, and the equality that they want to offer to everybody. you know, sometimes you say san francisco is a little far left or progressive and off the
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charts, but what starts or seems to flow east to other companies. levi straws, pg & e and corporations that took the lead locally and encouraged that participation in litigation back in 2007. >> michael: you know progressive that you said a few times now has the word "progress" in it. it's not surprising that things start there and then spread. tell me with all that you know and all that you follow, how do you think the supreme court is going to rule on proposition eight and doma. >> i'm optimistic. look how the courts have dealt with this in california in the last six years. look at the polling in california from the time we passed proposition eight to outlaw gay marriage to where we are in the public polls now. it has changed all over california and it's beginning to change all over the country. you see that in the corporations
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wecorporations' responses you see that in elected official's responses from former vice presidents senators and throughout the country. i think it's really flipped in the last seven or eight years in terms of the public perception of this issue. result i think the courts will follow that. >> michael: optimism j lazarus thank you so much for coming into "the war room." >> thank you. >> michael: an unique question and answer session puts the african-american experience in a whole new light. >> we could find our own way by standing up for the truth. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. (vo) she's joy behar. >>current will let me say anything.
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>> michael: today in our ongoing series the march goes on we're taking a look at the art project that is getting a lot of buzz. question bridge, black males, a four-year project initiates a provocative q and a with 150 black men from all walks of life. they talk honestly about issues that continue to divide, unite and puzzle black men in america. and the answers consistently challenge the creator's ideas of black maleness. let's take a look. >> why didn't you guys leave us the blueprint? >> well, after the civil rights movement of the 60s proved to be very, very successful, i think blacks felt that they they had crossed the threshold and it's easy going from here on in.
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but the worse was yet to come. i kind of think we thought that the waves would continue to roll, and we did drop the ball. >> michael: joining me now from new york to discuss the "questions bridge" are two of its creators bayete ross-smith and hank willis thomas. welcome inside "the war room"." >> thanks for having us. >> michael: bayete the conversation across generations is striking. while working on this project did you see a disconnect from those who marched on washington and your generation? >> well, that's an interesting question because i actually saw that disconnect growing up. you know, i had really good elders in my life, and i was fortunate that way, but my generation definitely did not have as much mentorship as previous generations. it was like reverend oliver said in the cliff you showed. that generation got to a certain
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point, they felt like they had accomplished what they needed to accomplish, and they weren't ready to pass the baton on to our own generation. so you have 80s the age the crack-cocaine epidemic and reagan numberrics. i don't think they were prepared to prepare us on that. >> michael: isn't part of it having someone willing to take the baton? did you find there were people in your generation who were disinterested or didn't know as much about the work they were doing? >> possibly, but i think that's part of what happens in every generation. it's two-fold. obviously the youth have to be prepared to take the baton. but the elders are the elders, and they have to pass the baton. who is more responsible for the relationship, the adult or the parent? as someone who is a child at some point and now is a parent now i understand that. there is a certain responsibility on both ends of the spectrum. >> michael: unquestionably.
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hank, what is the importance of question bridge? >> well, there are so many amazing things about this project. for us we wanted to show there was as much diversity within the demographic as well as outside of it. asking these questions of other african-american men, we really hoped and i think succeeded in exploding the ideas of the narrow demographics that we tend to put so much weight on in our society. >> michael: that's such an interesting part of this. i want to play another clip from the project that really struck me. the question was do you really feel free? >> in terms of myself and my person being and the way i operate in the world i feel free. i feel that i have achieved a sense of personal freedom. but in terms of my relation with other people, in terms of my relation with white people, in terms of my relation with other black people, do i feel free? no because i constantly think there are things expected of me,
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things that are thought about me. i feel as though constantly--especially though because i'm an educated black man that i'm perceived as a threat constantly. >> michael: did you think that you would be surprised by the wide variety of answers that you got from the respondents? >> i initially did not expect to be surprised. that's another thing about this prong that is dynamic. it's a collaboration first of all between myself hank, the originator of the question bridge concept chris johnson and kamal sinclair. our producers so with working with all these people, most of us were black males with the expect of dr. willis and kamal sinclair. working together we constantly came up with the idea that our perception the the black male identity were very diverse. when we got into some of these
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questions there was always some answer some perspective that caught me by surprise given the answers--i mean given the questions. i've been a black male all my life. i went to a historically black college. i felt like i was an expert on black male identity, but i found out there were still things that i could learn and uncover by black male identity by working on this subject. i felt if it was that way for me then i felt it was important to share with our country. >> michael: hank, tell me your experience with this. what was some of the most eye opening moments of this project for you? >> i think the most eye opening experience of this project was watching strangers become totally open and vulnerable by their willingness to ask questions and then their willingness to answer questions from strangers brought to them by strangers. we don't really recognize the power and the humanity and
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humility that a project--that a question kind of offers. it's so generous and the participants in the project were so generous, so articulate and so profound. that could be any single person that you pick up off the street. that's what we learned during this experience. that still blows my mind. >> michael: there are some recognizable faces in the space, andrew young, for example, but not that many. was this a conscious choice? i'll ask that of you again hank. >> well, yeah, we really wanted to show that people are people, and really that's what by focusing on black men we wanted to show it's not really about black men but black people who have people put in groups, how they relate to people in the group, the notion of the group and agents in it. we wanted to show celebrities but we wanted to put them on the same level as eight-year-olds 16-year-olds, historic figures and people who were
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incarcerated, really recognizing that everyone is invested in the progress of humanity, but especially as african-american men within the demographic at this time heavily invested in our own achievement. >> michael: well, gentlemen, it's an extraordinary project bayete ross-smith, and hank willis thomas. we put more information on our website current.com/thewar room. coming up brett who addresses people who just need to go away. stick around. honest. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us.
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and good luck. ♪
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>> michael: from hillary clinton's hacked e-mails to the threat of north korea nuclear war things have gotten pretty heated this week. everyone just simmer down because brett's talking now. >> hey, kids life is a game. sometimes you wish you were the coach of that game so you could take the morons who are playing bad, sit them down on the bench and say you're done. first up, kim jong-un. un, you would think i know how to say it by now because of the numbers of times i've had to tell you you're done. you think you can rattle your saber as loud as you want. but hey, could you stop rattleing so damn often? i can't keep your threats straight. we take your threats and you start a pinterest

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